Ordinarily Yours
by Okumatte
Summary: The tallests genetically experiment on randomly selected smeets each year, but what happens when their genetic experiments prosper, then turn on them?
1. Chapter 1

A/N: Oh joy! A new story! Yep. This story might be crappy, but I'm a writer in learning. Any reviews would be great. Flames will be sliced with a plastic butter knife and given to my army of mutant squirrels to be eaten. Whoo!! So, on with the first chapter!

Disclaimer: I don't own Invader Zim or anything associated with it.

Chapter One

One pair of red eyes and one pair of purple eyes watched as short nursery workers worked. One in particular, he had red eyes and was taller than the other nursery workers, noticed the two tall figures standing there. He suddenly stood upright and wiggled his antennae.

"Greetings my tallests!" he said loud enough for the other workers to notice. They all bowed, wiggled their antennae, and continued on with their work.

"Greetings.." the red eyed tallests started "... we are just here for yearly inspections and genetic testing." he finished.

"Oh! Of course, sirs!" the nursery worker replied. "Come with me!"

They followed him down a long corridor and they all entered a small room with a console, a computer screen, and many tubes with purple liquid in them. The worker stepped up to the console and pushed some buttons. Then, all of the tubes exited to collect some smeets.

"The random selection has been made, sirs. Soon, the smeets will be here for genetic testing. There are three males and three females and one of each gender will be used for extreme testing," he stated.

He turned to see the tallests playing an Irken game of rock paper scissors. The purple tallest, also called Purple seemed to have won against the red tallest, also called Red.

"Ha!" yelled Purple, "I get to do the extreme testing on the male this time! Not you!"

Red grumbled. Then, the tubes with the purple liquid came back and all six of them were carrying smeets. These smeets were used for genetics testing. The tallests tested chemicals that scientists gave him to test. Some of the chemicals were tested just to see if they would create the desired effect on the smeet. Some scientists just submitted random chemicals that they at least knew wouldn't kill the smeets. Basically, it was an excuse to let the tallests genetically screw up random smeets out of millions just so the population could make fun of some people. The rest of the day would be spent screwing up their genetic codes to see how defective they would get. Each smeet would get at least three chemicals put into it's tank, including the necessary chemical to implant a bar code into their skin. It was like a tattoo, only it showed that they were messed up on purpose and it let the tallests keep track of all of their genetic experiments from every year.

They took a look at their first smeet. It was a male. Underneath the tank, the future designation of the smeet was shown. It said 'Gex'. The next tank said 'Jiz', and the last male tank said 'Ren'. The female tanks said 'Hep', 'Tiz', and 'Jex'.

After many entertaining hours of testing on the smeets, the tallests decided to see what their random chemicals would do to these smeets. The computer could project what would happen to them. They looked at Gex. He would be shorter than he would've been and his arms were going to be extremely long. Then, they looked at Jiz. His eyes were going to be and extremely dark shade of red and his antennae were slightly bent in the middle. The las male to look at was Ren. He was the smeet to be chosen for extreme testing. His eyes were a dark blue, his antennae were so short they looked about ¼ the size of a regular Irken's antennae, he had six fingers on both of his hands and six toes on both of his feet, and he was going to be pretty chubby. In all, six chemicals had been put into his tank.

They then took a look at what the females' results were. Hep had long legs and the curls on her antennae were small. Tiz was going to be about the size of Skoodge, but somewhat taller, and she had orange eyes. Lastly, they took a look at Jex. She was horribly defective. Her antennae looked like lightning bolts, one of her eyes was deep green, the other a purple the color of Tak's eyes, a lightning bolt mark on her face, and her list of physical abilities included extreme healing capabilities, strength, high thinking capabilities, the ability to generate electricity, heightened senses, and the ability to absorb water for energy. Also, she was going to be the same height as Zim. This was Red's cruel joke against Zim because Jex was defective, meaning that he was calling Zim defective. It seemed like red must've stolen the whole case of chemicals. Honestly, Red always liked to be the one responsible for the best soldiers and the best workers in the empire.

Purple turned to Red.

"Did you steal more chemicals than necessary for her?" he asked very unhappy. Red just grinned evilly and said, "She was the extreme testing patient."

A/N: Do you like? Review if you want to give me your feedback!


	2. Chapter 2

A/N: Hello again!! I knew that it took me a while to update, but sometimes I like to think of all of the possible things that could happen next in a story and try to decide which one to use. It takes a while for me to plan all of the details, then write the chapter. So, on with the chapter!

Disclaimer: I don't own Invader Zim.

Chapter 2

Event: Graduation of the Class of 12,326.

All of the Irken graduates were standing in line waiting to get their paks encoded that they were now considered adult Irkens. Graduation was not very special to many Irkens. It only meant that now they were adults and could consider any job and start training for it. They would work under a sort of mentor or they would work in a group under an instructor to learn anything that they needed to know about their new job. The instructor or mentor would teach them everything in that field and also basic needs for the life ahead of them. Every mentor or instructor was required to teach the Irkens piloting and fighting skills in the most basic form. Individual Irkens could then learn about anything else in any other field by personal studies.

Jex waited patiently to have her pak encoded. She was determined on becoming a mechanic, no matter what anyone else said. She had the possibility of being denied because of her height and defectiveness, but she wasn't worried about that. The only thing that she knew that was defective about herself was the way she looked, and she doubted that would take away her job options because of it.

Jex was finally at the encoding machine. She stepped up to it and was asked what occupation she was pursuing. "Mechanic", was all that she said. She was encoded as a mechanic, then she was told where to find the room that new mechanics would choose their mentor in.

She slipped in the room and saw 15 other graduating Irkens like herself. The only problem was that there were only eight mentors. There had to be a competition to see which eight students would be mentored and which eight were either going to have to choose a new job or be a freelancer, and freelancers were worse off than the shortest Irken alive.

The graduates were sent into a separate room and all of them were given the same small machine with the same problem. The first eight to fix the machines were to be given to a mentor.

Jex fixed the small machine first and seven more finished after that. The other eight were sent off.

Jex was assigned to a mentor named Zex. He was tall, probably about a foot shorter than the tallests, and had deep blue eyes. He was friendly and polite when she talked to him.

It was now time to see where she would be trained for about the next four years.

A/N: I know that it's not that exciting, but it explains a lot about what is going on in her life right now.


	3. Chapter 3

A/N: I've been doing a lot of moving quickly through her young life, but the truth is that it's not that exciting. So, I've just skipped over all of Jex's training and bonding with her mentor. So, now her mentor and her are friends and she is a full time mechanic. Also, there will be quite a bit of skipping around in this chapter. And sorry I took so long with updating... I'm still trying to get the whole story line down and I'm lazy. Also, I had band camp in the summer and now I'm in high school..... so it might take a while....

Chapter 3

Jex and Zex both waked back into the medium sized mechanics shop and waited for their next customer. Over the years, Jex and Zex had become great friends. Jex was a full time mechanic in the shop and one of the best, under Zex of course. Jex loved working on machines and helping her customers. She was happy to turn broken machinery into something as good as new. Her favorite part was to see the customers eyes light up when they received their goods back, fixed.

This particular day, though, there was no customer waiting for her. There was a large ship and a pudgy Irken waiting for her.

"Excuse me, but do you know where I can find Jex?" he asked.

"I'm Jex. Why do you need me?"

"I am the official hirer for the tallests grand ship, the massive. I only hire the best, so you should be happy to know that you've been chosen to work there. This is a one in a lifetime chance, so you best take it now. If you accept, you would be working on the massive and if you're lucky, you may even see the tallests. This is a great honor."

Jex looked at Zex with large questioning eyes. Zex just nodded and mumbled something like 'take the job or you'll be sorry'.

Jex turned and nodded to the 'hirer', then started to go towards the ship. She then suddenly turned, ran back to her mentor and friend, and gave him a large hug. Then, she walked into the ship. She waved and smiled at Zex before she left. She hoped that she'd see him again some day.

- The Massive -

Jex arrived at the massive. It was just like it's name – massive. It was incredibly huge and it was larger than any city that she'd ever seen on Irk besides the planet's capital city. She'd have to say that there was a possibility that the massive was about the same size as the capital city.

The 'hirer' led her to another Irken who was about two and a half times as tall as Jex and about 2 times as tall as the hirer.

"Hello, I'm your guide. I'll be showing you around the massive. You can just call me Nit."

"Okay, Nit, show me the massive!"

- 2 Hours Later -

Jex had been shown all the areas of the massive that she needed to see. She had been shown her quarters and had been given a key card to her room. Then, Nit had taken her to the cafeteria, the engine room, the mechanics bay, the mall, and then he'd given her a MPW (massive positioning watch, kind of like a gps, but just for the massive and it's in a watch). The watch could lead her to anywhere she needed to go, and it had built in alarms that were automatically set for one hour before she needed to be at her work station. The watch also had a built in dictionary, thesaurus, and encyclopedia. The last thing Nis gave her was her uniform, then he left. He had said that she could customize the style of her clothes, as long as she kept the colors of each piece the same.

She went into her quarters, then took a good look at her uniform. It had the same style as an invader uniform. There was a black undershirt, a blue over shirt with small black stripes, black tight pants, black gloves, and black boots. She found the outfit kind of plain, so she decided to go to the mall with some of the money that she had. She was going to get a new outfit. Actually, she was required to wear the plain outfit on the first day, so she'd wear her other clothes on the second day. She decided to keep her undershirt, pants, and gloves. They were fine. She just wanted new boots and a new overshirt.

As she searched through the mall, she found what she was looking for. She found boots with five buckles. These boots weren't pointy, but rounded and they stopped right below her knee. Then, she found a great over shirt. It was a plain blue and it was darker than her current shirt, but not by much. It had black shoulder pieces that pointed down and a black collar (like invader Zee's outfit. if you're an obsessive freak and have a picture of all the invaders including Zee, you might know what I'm talking about).

When she tried the clothes on, she sighed with happiness. The outfit mached her pak. (her pak is black with blue spots because she is defective. some defectives received different colored paks to warn other Irkens if they can't immediately see that the Irken in question is defective)

- The Next Day -

Jex happily skipped to work. It was her first day as one of the Massive's mechanics. She was extremely glad to be working again.

As soon as Jex arrived at the mechanics bay, she waited for her to be assigned to something. After waiting for 10 minutes, an Irken who seemed to be in charge told her to work on all of the personal spacecrafts that came in the bay. She was enthralled. Working on spacecraft was what she used to do all of the time! It was her favorite job! From now on, she was going to have so much fun fixing everything!

A/N: My whole point: she loves fixing stuff. It's kind of hard to put how much she loves fixing things in words.... anyways, review please! Constructive criticism is appreciated as well as other thoughts about my story! Flames will be chewed, thrown into the microwave, boiled in water, and thrown at the hornets nest that is right outside my room...


	4. Chapter 4

A/N: More skipping will be going on. I mean, there's not much to describe in her career besides fixing and creating stuff... so.... I'm just gonna skip it. Hope you enjoy this chapter!

Disclaimer: I do not own Invader Zim.

Four years had passed since Jex first started working in the Massive. She still had fun at work, but it's what happened when she wasn't at work that bothered her. Every day, people would throw insults at her. About once every week, she would be beaten. She was honestly afraid to leave her quarters, but that didn't stop her from doing so.

'This week has been a great so far.' she thought to herself as she walked down the Massive's long corridors to go to work. Then, an extremely tall Irken blocked the path in front of her. He was the one who always beat her. He looked down at her, contemplating whether he should wait. "I have to get to my work station." he said, then walked away with the look in his eye that said 'I'll see you later, defective shrimp.'

Jex sighed a sigh of depression as she quickly walked toward her work station. The mechanics bay was crowded with Irkens. Jex walked through the crowded bay, making sure not to spill her Irken coffee. She quickly made it to her station, used her identification card to sign in, and started working.

It was rather amazing that after four years of doing the same thing over and over she still wasn't tired of it. She was never annoyed by doing the same procedures on the ships over and over. The only time she was ever annoyed was when she didn't have her music playing in the special ship bay inside of the mechanics bay. (The mechanics bay is a rather large part of the massive with separate rooms for each different areas of work. And, if you didn't know, Jex can just play her own music with her pak.)

Today, on this particular day, there were three ships waiting for her. One needed new weapons, one needed the engine fixed and one wanted the climate control fixed, along with some dents and the paint job. Yep, today seemed like a regular day to Jex. Work on a ship, take a five minute break, work on a ship, go to lunch, work on a ship, go back to her quarters. That was how it went most of the time. Today was a rather peculiar day, though, and Jex didn't know, but today was the day that her whole life was going to change.

- On the Bridge -

The tallests were doing their usual leader captain of a whole entire race kind of thing... erm.... I mean playing with puppets. "We should make puppets with lasers!" Red yelled. "No! It's always lasers with you! Why can't we make puppets with smoke machines?" Purple yelled back defensively. "Because, Pur! People like lasers better!" Red said matter-of-factly. Purple gave up when a series of nods was seen coming from all of the Irkens on the bridge.

Suddenly, as if out of nowhere, one of the bridge members disappeared. "Where'd he go?" Purple screamed, making sure not do drop his curly fries. "Drone! Status! What happened to that other pilot drone?" Red barked. The maroon-eyed drone looked at him confusedly. "I really don't know, sir. I'll scan the area." A few beeps could be heard, then a siren as a Vortian ship was finally detected right next to the massive. "Vortians at 11 degrees, sir!" the drone stated.

Purple screamed, then suddenly stopped. "Wait," he said, "It's just the resisty again, right? We almost blew their buts off last time with our laser thingy! Why should we be worried about them right now?" Then, he and red started laughing hysterically along with the rest of the bridge. As all of the Irkens were either giggling, chuckling, laughing, or cackling insanely, they didn't notice, but about 20 Irken life forms were seen disappearing from the ship. As soon as the one who was in charge of the scanners stopped laughing, he noticed that the Irkens were missing, along with the resisty ship. "Sir, the resisty ship is gone along with 20 Irken from different areas of the ship," he said, waiting to be thrown out of the air lock. Red looked at him as if that information was irrelevant. "So what? We don't have to waste our lasers and 20 Irkens don't really matter to us that much.

- In the Resisty Ship -

Jex saw a flash of white light and found herself in a small room with about 19 other Irkens, all of different heights, ranks, and occupations. She didn't know where she was, but she recognized some of their faces. There were a few that she had met, one that worked on the bridge (most people knew what they looked like since the same people were on the bridge most of the time), and then there was the tall Irken that had blocked her earlier. He started to walk over to her with and angry look in his eyes.

A/N: Sorry for taking so long. I'm lazy and enjoy reading other fanfictions so much that I forget to write, along with the fact that marching band is still going on.... review if you want to....


	5. Chapter 5

A/N: Yay! The next chappy is up! Enjoy this chappy and remember that IZ isn't mine! Please ask before using my made up characters. I probably won't say no to you using my characters, I just wanna know if you're using them so that I can read your fanfiction!

Jex saw the Irken coming and instantly started running in the opposite direction. She hid herself among the taller Irkens that she didn't really know. It was no use, he still found her. one he had her against a wall, he was just about to punch her when she grabbed his wrist. She had gotten fighting lessons from her mechanics teacher along with mechanical training. On the massive, Irkens couldn't hurt taller Irkens. On this ship, though, there weren't any rules. She gave a slight grin and twisted his wrist to the left and heard a resounding crack. His pak would fix it in about 10 minutes, but it made him find another target. She couldn't help but grin as the tall Irkens looked at her with horror at breaking and Irken law punishable by death. Now that she was on another ship, she didn't even care. She walked off with an evil grin that all psychotic short Irkens seemed to possess.

- One Week Later -

It was feeding time. Jex found a spot between two tall Irkens and slipped in between them. No one noticed. Being short definitely had it's benefits. She sat in her usual spot by the wall and started eating. Then, she noticed a defective Irken who used to work on the bridge. He had deep red eyes and his antennae were bent in the middle. Some taller non-defective Irken had stolen his food. He definitely needed food. A pak needed food so that it could store it and give it to and Irken when needed. She started to walk towards him.

He looked up at her pleadingly. She brought the Irken back to her spot and gave him some of her food. Well, if you would even call it 'food'. It looked more like someone ate some blended ice cream, water, chocolate chips, mandarin oranges and baking soda, then regurgitated it, blended it again, mixed it with something that made it less watery, then put it on a plate. At least, that's how Jex described it.

He took some gratefully and decided to spark a conversation. "My name is Jiz, what's yours?" he asked sheepishly. "Jex," she answered. "Thanks for sharing. Oh, and that was a brave thing you did a while back." He looked at the tall Irken. "He was bawling his eyes out until his pak healed it. Now he won't get in a ten foot radius of you," he said. He chuckled and smiled as he ate his "food". Well, at least she made a friend in this prison.

- Two Hours Later -

That taller Irken, now dubbed 'Wimp', had messed with her for the last time. She had gone to the other side of the room for a second, to throw away some trash no less, and he had instantly started beating her new friend. Jiz couldn't stick up for himself because he never had combat training.

She swiftly drop kicked 'Wimp'. Then she jumped on his back, brought his arms back and snapped them both out of place. She then proceeded to shove a heel in his back, then pull his antennae. She jumped off of him, lifted his head by his antennae and gave him a stern look. She glared, then spoke. "Don't mess with me or my friends ever again or there may be permanent damage. Kapish?" She waited for a reply. All she saw was fear in those cold eyes. He shook his head 'yes'. Once she let go, he made a beeline for the other side of the room. She sighed. Then, Jex looked at him and jerked a bit. He flinched in fear. It would take a good hour to put his arms back and repair his back and antennae.

She sat back down by Jiz, who thanked her, then proceeded to take a clearly needed nap. Taking naps helped to heal wounds faster and he wanted the bruises gone, so he lay down for about ten minutes. Jex just stared at 'Wimp' the whole time, striking more fear into his heart every second.

A/N: I wish I could strike fear in my enemies by staring at them. That would be great. (And yes, I know Jiz's name sounds funny.) Well, R&R!


	6. Chapter 6

A/N: Man, it takes me a long time to update. Mid-terms are coming up, but I'm updating now anyway. Well, hope you like.

Jex woke up the next morning in a white cell with white bars. No one was around. The cells all around her were empty. She saw a tray of food in the corner. It looked even grosser than the food she had had before. This time it looked like some kind of alien waste with maple syrup on it and maybe a few brown sprinkles. It looked completely gross, but she ate it anyways. It didn't taste much better than it looked, but she saw that it gave her pak energy. The only other things in the room besides the tray of food were a toilet, for any species who needed toilets, and an old cot that looked, and smelled, like hundreds of aliens had thrown up on it. She avoided it at any cost. The stench could even make her throw up the horrid meal that she had just eaten. She decided to take a nap.

Jex was woken abruptly from her nap when she realized that something had been put on her pak. Someone else was putting handcuffs on her and yet another person was putting something on her ankles. She realized that they were magnetized shackles. The two magnetic rings would grip on a hovering board so she couldn't move her feet at all and the guards could take her anywhere easily.

The three guards that had put the security devices on her then proceeded to pick her up and put her on that hovering board. She couldn't move her feet, her hands had minimal moving capabilities, and her pak's dangerous functions had been disabled. She sighed begrudgingly in defeat. The guards led her to a room that said 'Captains Quarters' on the door.

The door opened and she was taken in. She saw a large menacing silhouette on the wall. She realized that it was a giant chair. She felt terrified. If they needed such a large chair, then how big was the captain? Then, the chair spun around and her faced dropped to one of a comical expression. He was tiny. What was he? About and inch taller than her? She could handle him any day, but in this state, she was helpless. She couldn't even move her legs and could barely move her hands. What could she do? So, she decided that she was at his mercy.

"Hello, Irken," the alien said. What was he? A Vortian? She wished that she had downloaded an index of alien species into her pak. The alien smiled menacingly.

"I see you are confused. My name is Lard Nar. I'm a Vortian, in case you didn't know, and I'm the leader of the Resisty." That name sounded familiar to her somehow, but where had she heard it? "Oh, yeah," she said "You're that rebel group trying to take down the Irken empire, right?"

"That's correct, Irken," he replied. Jex wanted to wipe that smirk off of his face.

"What does this have to do with me?" she questioned.

"Nothing, Irken. You're just one of our prisoners of war. I see that you beat up one of your 'superior' Irkens pretty badly. It though Irkens weren't supposed to beat up taller Irkens," he stated. Jex looked at the wall with an angry look on her face.

"He had been picking on me for a long time because I'm short and a defective. He was picking on my friend," she looked him in the eyes "and no one messes with my friends."

"I see, so friendship is more important to you than the empire?" he asked.

"Absolutely," she whispered as she looked at the wall again.

"Well, here, on this ship, there's plenty of friendship to go around, taller doesn't mean superior, and we're all treated equally. I wanted to know if you'll give up your loyalties to the empire and join our rebellion group. We're trying to save planets that have been taken by the empire, including mine. Your help would be appreciated. In order to be part of our group, though, you must pledge your loyalty to us."

Jex mulled it over in her mind for a while. She didn't like the empire. She wasn't treated fairly. She had been in a lower mechanic position for years, but she had more skills than the ones in higher positions. She hated them for getting all of the good positions. She would never be treated fairly in Irkens society. She was almost the same size as a smeet and some Irkens who were younger than her had tried to direct her to the nursery before. It was embarrassing. She looked Lard Nar in the eyes and said three life changing words.

"I'll do it," she said with determination.

"Excellent!" Lard Nar said with glee, his eyes shining like a smeet's eyes on activation day. "You will be given some quarters and once you get settled and personalize everything we'll help you choose a job. Of course, everyone on board has to help in some way. In turn, you receive free food and the ship can give you any outfit you want. Of course, most of us get clothing from unique planets or our own planet. You can choose what you wear. You are free to download our ship map into you pak. We usually download it into the crew members' devices that help them get messages and such, but your pak would be a great thing to store your map in. That way, you can navigate the ship by yourself, without any signs or help from your mobile device, which you soon will receive. If you will go with Marquis," he pointed to one of the guards "he will explain more about how we do things on the ship, take you to your quarters, and help to download the map into your pak."

The guard led Jex out and Lard Nar's door closed.

Jex looked at the ship. "As one door closes, another door opens," she whispered.

"Come on! We're going to your quarters!" Marquis yelled from half way down the hall.

"Sorry!" Jex yelled back "I'm coming!" Then, she ran after Marquis, a rare smile on her face.

A/N: This is like an initiation chapter. Yep. I haven't decided if Marquis is going to have a big part in this story, or if he is just going to be an initiation person like that one guide-person on the massive. Oh well, I may bring him back. I'll just have to make up my mind.


	7. Chapter 7

AN: OMG.... it takes me soooooo long to update because I'm the laziest person eveeeeeerr........ and I know most people don't like OCs..... but I think they're fun to work with....... you can give them their own personalities and show everything in their unique point of view... it's super fun. There's going to be a lot about Jex's room in this chapter. Actully, It might take a couple of chapters to initiate her fully. And damn, I forgot to describe Marquis! I'll have to do that in this chapter – have to make Marquis a more understandable character and I have to tell people what he looks like, or they could be confused! Okay... I think I'll shut up nao....

Disclaimer: I don't own Zim... blah... blah....blah...*keeps rambling*

Jex looked at the inner working of her quarters..... the looked more private than the massive's quarters. They also looked more comfortable and more...... permanent. She had noticed that the massive's quarters looked as though they lacked any personality and looked as though they could belong to anyone... which made it easy to get a replacement. Her job was probably already taken by now.

She observed the room some more. On her left was what looked like a bed frame. It had no mattress or sheets, but would eventually. There was a small bedside table next to it that had nothing on or in it. To the right, two large metal sliding doors with a key code on it. She looked in the back right corner and saw a desk with nothing on it.

Jex saw small metal door that was on a little area that protruded into the room. This was the bathroom. What surprised her was that the bathroom had absolutely nothing in it- no toilet, no sink, no shower, and no cabinets.

She also noticed that there were two other doors next to the sliding doors on either side. She went in the one closest to the door into her quarters. It was an interesting room for washing clothes. See, she always sent her clothing down to the Irken cleaners (every Irken had three uniforms given to them and you sent two of them when you only had one left to a place like the dry cleaners). The room had a washer, dryer, and came with a hamper and basket along with two cabinets above the washer and dryer.

She exited that room and walked into the next one which seemed to be a kitchen. There was a small fridge, two ceiling cabinets, a sink, dishwasher, and ceiling high cupboard. There was also a microwave. She stared in awe-she'd never had her own kitchen! Slowly, she went back into the main room and noticed Marquis, waiting for her to finish. She walked over to him.

"This is pretty neat!" she said in excitement.

"It's a great room. The first thing you should do is customize it." he replied with a small smile.

"I can.... customize it?" she asked with confusion evident in her voice.

"Absolutely – color, kind of mattress, whatever you need in the bathroom, food, clothing, and anything else you may need or want." he stated. "But," he said "we need to get you your computer first. Lets go pick it out." He was still giving her a small knowing smile as he lead her out of the room, her still staring in awe at the room and smiling giddily at the prospect of having her own computer.

She skipped backwards down the hall, Marquis telling her which way to go and when there was someone coming as he walked leisurely. She actually hadn't taken a good look at all yet. She noticed that yes, in fact, he was an Irken. He was taller than she, but not so tall that he towered over her. He had sparkling red eyes and had well kept antennae that were the average length of a male's antennae. He usually wore a monotone expression, but occasionally gave a small empathetic smile to her and gave a small wave to those he had known for quite a while. He looked like the shy type and she wondered why he had given up the empire. He was an average looking Irken and didn't look defective by any means.

'Oh well,' she thought, 'maybe I'll find out later, maybe not.'

With that she realized that they had arrived at a small area that looked like a market. It was brightly lit and the whole area was filled with many different plants all around. It looked like it was part greenhouse. Marquis walked her over to the computer booth and she looked through the electronic catalog, typing in her specifications. There were many models to choose and she narrowed it down to three. All were the same except for their colors. She looked at the color choices: orange, black, white, blue. She pressed the 'Blue' button. Then, a machine whirred and out popped a brand new laptop. It was small, but functional and she smiled with glee while clutching it to her chest. On the Massive, she wouldn't have been able to afford barely anything to customize her room let alone an amazing computer with all the best everything! Marquis gave her another knowing smile and started leading her back to her yet-to-be customized room.

A/N: Not too exciting.... but I think I like Marquis. He's already pretty mysterious being normal looking and all. He even has kind of a shy personality. I like him, but I want your feedback whether you like him or not! So, should I make him a more important character? Whether or not to make him more prominent in the story is my decision, but I always like reader feedback!!


	8. Chapter 8

A/N: Hai! I'm back with another installment of OY. I think I like Marquis. I think he's going to have a bigger role in the story than I first planned. Enjoy!

Disclaimer: Don't own.

Marquis was taking her back to her room when she noticed something odd.

'Shouldn't this ship be teeming with life?' she asked herself. No one was in the hallways and she hadn't seen anyone but her current guide, the leader and a couple of guards. Where could everyone be?

Marquis looked back at her and noticed her looking puzzled, looking all around. He recognized why she was confused and decided to inform her on the current situation.

"They're at work. Checking the ship's engines, cooking dinner, driving and doing whatever else they do," he said to her.

She nodded in understanding and they continued to walk in silence. When they got to the room, Marquis opened the door and let her go inside.

"Okay," he stared, "you should hook up to the computer interface and start uploading the map and entering yourself into the system. From there, you can start customizing your room, exploring the ship and picking your job. Everyone who lives on this ship is required to do a job, so choose wisely. Also, you may want to hook up your new computer to the ship network. There, you will find the ship's message boards and other things you may need to know. There's even a list of job openings. The openings are jobs that you have a high chance of getting. You can also try to get a job that's not on the list, but it will be more difficult to get. The job gives you money to get everything in your quarters upgraded and to get new clothes. You already have a set amount of our currency to spend on furniture, clothing, and accommodations. Food is free because some species need more food than others. Also, all necessities are free – anything for the bathroom, basic bed/living items and anything else you may need. In addition, you can have three of each clothing item – three shirts, bottoms, shoes, ect. If that's all you need, I'll see you later. I, and others like me, check up on all the new recruits to see how they're doing. I've programmed your DNA into your door along with your eye scans, hand prints, and key code. Irkens can also use their pak to open the door. You can personalize which of these you want to use. You can even use all of them. Here," he handed her a card, "this is your temporary key card. We give a real one to you when you pick a job and have been here for at least a month. For now, I bid you adieu."

He walked out the door. As soon as the door closed and locked, she jumped on the bed and screamed with joy. She then went to the computer interface system and started personalizing her room. She didn't have much money, so she ordered all her needs – an Irken shower, a toilet in case she was sick or had an excess of wastes, a sink for cleansing, cleansing chalk and anything else she needed – and she decorated her room with the money she had. It was pretty shabby, with different shades of blue all over, but she was okay with it. It was one of the cheapest rooms she could get, but she would upgrade it later.

Sitting down at her desk, she eagerly opened her computer and went on the message boards. Clicking on the button that said 'Job Openings', she waited. Then, she looked at all the jobs available, but only saw one that caught her eye – 'Head Mechanic'. She clicked on it and read the description below – 'We've never actually had a head mechanic and have had no one with that skill, seeing as the Irken armada took all our engineers and mechanics to do their own bidding and we usually don't get any of them off of enemy ships since they're always located towards the middle of the ship, which is so hard to target. We've been working off of manuals and whoever can fix a small glitch, but we can't fix the big problems and always have to go back to home base when we get damaged. Looking for a mechanic who's responsible and knows almost everything there is to know about a ship.' She finished reading, then promptly pressed the 'Sign up for this Job' button and put in her key code.

'Now,' she thought to herself, 'I may as well get some rest.' And with that, she fell into a deep sleep.

- Elsewhere -

Two figures were in a darkened room. One was sitting at a desk, the other standing.

"Okay," the first one said, "this new Irken needs to be watched. We need to make sure she's not a traitor and that she's loyal to us. Once that is proven, which might take quite a while, we can stop watching her. For now, I want you to keep an eye on her. Monitor all transmissions going in or out and keep track of where she is at all times. We're taking every precaution we can after what the last one did."

The second one spoke. "I understand. I'll keep a harsh eye on her until she has proven herself loyal to us. It'll take more than just a 'confession' to the tallests – that's a mistake we made before. It may take heroics or maybe bloodshed before I declare her worthy."

"Good," replied the first person evilly.

A/N: Yay! Done! There's really long paragraphs in this one, but some of them are just people talking. O.O Well, I hope you like. Give me more feedback. ^_^


	9. Chapter 9

A/N: Wow. I've been writing a lot lately. Maybe it's because I'm bored or depressed or something like that........

Disclaimer: Dun' own!

Jex woke up to the sound of her internal clock buzzing and looked around. No, it hadn't been a dream. She wasn't in the massive and she wasn't in that prison cell of a room. She was in her quarters. HER quarters. She smiled inwardly and got up.

Still in her clothing from yesterday, because that was the norm on the massive – sleeping in yesterdays clothing, she walked over to the computer and sat down. Opening her computer, she noticed that there were a few messages on the message board – their current location, what they were having for all their meals today, etc. Then, she noticed that she had two messages. One was from Marquis, telling me that he was to be my 'overseer' and had to watch/help me for a while. He was going to instruct me on the ways of the ship. He also said to message him when she woke. The second was a reply to my job application. It said that I would have an interview soon for the job of head mechanic. It was in two hours. Jex messaged him that she had woken and in less than five minutes, he was knocking at her door to instruct her on going about her duties on the ship.

She walked out of the door with him.

"So," she said, "where are we going today?" Jex asked out of curiosity.

"Before I tell you that, did you apply for a job yet?" he questioned.

"Actually, yes. I did apply for a job," she answered.

"What job was it? We'll go to that sector and I'll tell you about your duties and how to go about having an interview," he stated.

"Well, I signed up for the job of head mechanic," she said

'Oh great,' he thought, 'This'll make my job a lot harder. What if she tries to sabotage the ship?'

"Um.. that's great," he said, then directed her to the mechanics sector, located in almost the center of the ship.

"So, what exactly will my duties be if I get this job?" she queried.

"Well, first of all, you'll have to keep this ship going, do repairs on everything from toasters to this engine-" he pointed at the engine, "-and just make sure everything mechanical is going well. This ship has never really had a head mechanic, so we don't actually have a system on how to report broken machines. Of course, the ship is the top priority. You have to deal with organization of a mechanical problem report system. That's when people report problems with anything in the ship. They may want you to fix their washers or lights. The head mechanic also has to make the mechanics page on the ship network and they can hire other workers to do minor or major work on anything from ships, air ducts, appliances, games, and anything else the crew members may need repaired that they can't repair themselves," he finished.

"What about the interview?" she asked.

"Well, just be truthful. Since there's no on even in the mechanics sector, you'll most likely get the job unless you know nothing of mechanics. I wouldn't be too worried," he replied.

She looked at the clock.

"Oh! I better be getting to my interview now or I'll be late and that won't look very good!" she yelled while running down the corridor.

Coming into the small interview room, she noticed two things: One, the interviewer (a small Vortian) looked really tired and two, the room looked like it hadn't been washed in ages because there was dust everywhere.

She sat down in the chair across from the interviewer and it promptly squeaked beneath her small body, which didn't say much for the chair. Then, the interviewer spoke.

"Do you have any previous mechanical experience and, if so, what was it?" asked the Vortian. The voice was monotone, a bit gravelly, and distinctly male.

"Yes, I do have previous mechanical experience. I worked as one of the mechanics on the Massive, fixing ships – voot cruisers, spittle runners, supply ships, cargo vessels and others of the sort." she replied a bit hesitantly and rather quitely.

"Your hired. Have a nice day," the monotone voice grumbled.

"Oh, thank you!" she yelled, hugging the worker and surprising him a bit. She smiled. Joining this ship was going smoothly. Maybe a bit too smoothly, but she enjoyed the ease of it anyway.

A/N: Yep. All my chapters seem to be about this length, don'tcha' think?


	10. Chapter 10

A/N: Wow. My last chapter had some switches from first to third person in them, didn't it? Huh. I hate when that happens. Maybe I'll fix it when I finish this story...

Jex – now a proud working member of the ship – walked back down to her quarters. She was still a tad bit disturbed that her transition into the ship was going so smoothly. When she went back to her quarters, she noticed Marquis waiting there.

"So, did you get hired?" he asked, looking very calm and a bit bored.

"Absolutely!" she exclaimed. "Who wouldn't hire me with my experience?"

"I don't know. So," he said, "today we want you to meet certain members of the crew that you'll have to know. Some are just officers and other people that everyone on the ship should be acquainted with and others you'll probably have to deal with because of your job."

"Okay," she said as they walked out of the door.

During the entirety of the day, she met people like all of the officers, medical staff, messenger boys (to transport parts), and vendors (to acquire parts for the ship). She also met many people that she could ask for information about the ship, who to go to for certain things, and other important tips. She was having fun and was completely ready for her first day on the job. She was so eager to get to work that she fell into a dreamless sleep.

- Later -

The two figures met again in a dark room.

"So," the first and shorter figure said, "how is she doing?"

"Well," the second and taller figure stated, "she seems to have been accepted for the job of top mechanic on the ship. Also, she doesn't seem like the deceiving kind that we've seen before. First of all, she has no time to plot, seems to have no evil intentions, she seems to be overjoyed to work for us, and she also seems to have cut all ties with the empire."

The first figure sighed.

"She still can't be trusted. I don't have to keep reminding you about the last time. I know it hurts you every time I remind you of it, but make sure everything keeps going smoothly until she can prove herself. Maybe we'll stage an invasion of the ship by the Irkens. If she helps them, we send her off the ship. If she helps us, then she will be on our side. Because she wouldn't know it's fake, fighting for us would mean slapping her face in the wanted dead records of the Irken empire forever. She would never be able to go back to them. So, staging a fight would show where her loyalties lie. We stage the fight in two days, Marquis! Two days!" the first figure yelled as the second figure, now identified, walked into the light of the hallway.

- The Next Morning -

Jex woke with a twitch and an instantaneous jump out of bed. In one single movement she had gotten out of bed, made her bed, and was now standing on the other side of the room in front of the dresser. She had dirtied all of her outfits and now needed something new. At work, she was supposed to wear something practical that would help her with her work. She decided to order an outfit right now because she had plenty of time and needed something clean. After looking through the database for quite some time, she had decided on some large black sneaker-like shoes, some black mechanic's pants, a plain black t-shirt, black arm warmers, and a black baseball cap that let her antennae stick out. After getting her new outfit, she noticed that there was a panel on the wall with a picture of a letter on it that was blinking. She touched the panel and it opened. She looked inside and found many necessary tools for her job. She put them all in a special compartment in her pak and started off for work. She realized that this must've been a mail slot.

Meanwhile, Marquis was planning the 'invasion' for tomorrow. He sighed. Planning a fake invasion in one day was hard work.

Back to Jex. She was at her new job, but the first day didn't involve fixing things. She had to get acquainted to her new workplace. She was now in the mechanic's bay. It wasn't split into sections, but it was pretty large. The Mechanic's bay was a cylindrical room. The engine was in the center and other parts of the ships lined the walls. There were computer screens in front of everything and tons of access panels all over.

Besides that, there were two doors. One that led to the hall and one that led to an office. Correction: _her_ office. She was the head mechanic and had an office. She had never had an office before and was excited. The last, but most depressing, thing that she noticed was that there was nobody in the mechanic's bay. She didn't seem to depressed by this, though, because she had to see her new office.

As soon as she turned on the light, she grimaced. Dust and dirt covered everything. The inside was a mess and there were broken things all over. Nothing seemed to have survived what happened in this office. She picked up a broken picture frame that was right next to the fallen trashcan. It was a picture of a Vortian and an Irken together. They had been smiling, but she supposed that something had happened. She figured that cleaning this office was her first priority. She left, but would come back soon.

About ten minutes later, she came in with about five large boxes, a sweeper, and a couple of garbage bags. She sighed and decided to get started.

- Two Hours Later -

Lunch. Thank goodness it had come. Cleaning had never been her thing, but that was what she was doing. Nevertheless, she wasn't that bad at cleaning. She had many garbage bags full of broken things and had sorted out the things to keep from the things to get rid of. Included in the things to keep was the picture she had found (not the frame), many mechanical tools, any desk supplies that she could use, and some specially ordered mechanical sector transmitting pads (they would be given to all mechanics and she would send each of them individual or group instructions from her master transmitting pad). Now all she had to do was clean the room in general and rip the nasty, dirty carpet up from the floor. If there were any big problems, she would attend to them.

After finishing up her lunch, she ripped the carpet and threw it out, washed the walls, washed the ceiling, and washed the floor. Then, she ordered new furniture, painted the walls and ceiling again, ordered a small area rug, and ordered other various things that she would need for her job. Then, it was time to go home. She would work on making a mechanic website and a form/system to report problems tomorrow. For now, though, it would be time to go to her quarters. She never felt so drained before.

A/N: Yay. Another chapter: DONE! I haven't written in a while cause' I'm lazzzzyyyy... *sinks into chair* Yep. laaaazzzzzyyyyy...


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